Don't Kill Your Memories
by MakoStorm
Summary: He wasn't too troubled about her being in his room, she always found a way in when he had this dream. LeonSquall x Yuffie The summary sucks but please read it anyway. Pretty pretty please.


_Don't Kill Your Memories_

_Radiant Garden _

_Night of the invasion_

"98. 99. 100! Ready or not!" A fifteen year old Squall took his face from his hands and looked around, searching for a sign of his three younger siblings.

He walked into his mother's sewing room and looked around; eyeing his mother who was sitting at her table, a half finished quilt in her hands.

"Mom? You haven't seen any of the devils have you?" He questioned.

His mother smiled up at him from her work. "No I haven't Squall. Have you checked their rooms yet?" Her eyes spoke differently as they shot down, indicating for him to look under the table.

Squall grinned and knelt down. "No I haven't. I wonder where they could be." A childish giggle broke out and Squall shot his hands under the table, grabbing his youngest sister and pulling her out laughing. "Found Cindy!" He exclaimed as he set the giggling five year old on her feet.

"So, you wanna help me find the other two?" He asked and she nodded.

Suddenly screams broke out outside and Squall ran to the window and looked out to see people running by screaming; strange black shadows chasing them down.

Then his sister screamed from upstairs. "Brother!"

Squall took off running upstairs, his mother and sister right behind him. "Marlene!" Squall shouted his eight year old sister's name as he burst into the twins' room. As soon as the door opened Marlene fell into his arms.

Squall cradled her against him and watched as her body and the body of his little brother Dillon faded away; each with a gaping hole in their chest where a heart should be.

A gasp behind him made him whirl around. His eyes widened and he grabbed Cindy, pulling her away from their mother as the older woman fell to her knees, a black claw through her chest.

Squall wrapped his arms around Cindy and lifted her up, running from the room as the shadow creatures that had killed their family followed.

He ran into his room and slammed his door shut. He placed his sister on the bed and ran to the closet, pulling his gunblade from inside.

Cindy had wrapped herself in her big brother's quilt and was sobbing and shaking within it. Squall lifted her up, blanket and all, and leapt from his window into the street below.

Tears streamed down his face as he swung at the creatures trying to kill him and his sister, holding the little five year old to him tightly as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Calm down." Squall told her. "Try not to make too much noise. I don't want to have to fight more than I have to. Not with you here."

Cindy quieted her sobs but apparently not enough.

Squall looked to the roofs of the buildings and saw a new type of these creatures. It glowed for a moment and Squall's eyes widened. He jumped aside but wasn't fast enough as a ray of energy shot from the creature. Squall and Cindy were blown apart as the blast of energy hit the ground sending stone and metal everywhere. A jagged piece of metal flew across Squall's face, slicing it wide open. Cindy screamed and Squall shouted her name before calling colliding with a wall and blacking out.

0

0

0

Squall groaned and opened his eyes, meeting the piercing yellow eyes of one of the creatures. He gave a yell and swung at it with his gunblade that lay next to him.

He shot to his feet, swaying a little, before swinging and slicing through the shadows surrounding him.

He looked around frantically for any sign of his sister. "Cindy!" He shouted in panic. "Cindy where are you?!"

His eyes fell on a small pile of rubble where a small hand and edge of a quilt were sticking out.

"Cindy!" He ran over and began pulling rubble from atop the small child, screaming her name the whole time. "Cindy! Cindy, answer me!" He pulled the last rock off her and picked her broken body from the ground.

She was still wrapped up in his quilt and one of her small hands still held it tight around her, the grip staying firm even in death.

Squall cradled her limp body against his chest and cried, his sobs wracking his frame and the small body in his arms.

Crimson blood dripped from the slash across his face but he paid no attention and blocked the pain out as he tightened his hold around his sister, rocking back and forth.

He didn't know how long he sat there when he sensed someone else and looked up, meeting the sympathetic blue eyes of Cloud and the tearful emerald ones of Aerith.

Cloud held out a hand to him but Squall ignored it and buried his face in his sister's hair instead.

"Get up Squall." Cloud commanded softly. Squall ignored him.

"You must get up." The blond tried again. "We have to get out of here Squall."

"Don't call me that." Squall snapped. "Never again."

Cloud looked to Aerith who knelt next to her friend, loosening his hold on the small five year old. "Let her go. We have to leave, you must let her go."

His hold around the child loosened enough for Aerith to take her from his arms. Cloud held out his hand again and this time Squall took it. Cloud hauled him to his feet and Squall turned and took Cindy from Aerith before walking into and abandoned house.

Cloud was about to call out to him but Aerith stopped him, shaking her head. "Leave him alone for a minute." She said as Squall disappeared into the dark house.

Squall walked into one of the bedrooms in the house and placed Cindy down on the bed; there was no way he was going to just leave her in the street while he ran.

He leaned forward and placed a kiss to her forehead before backing away. He stared at her for a few minutes before turning and walking from the room. He walked out of the house and went to a pile of burning rubble and debris, fully aware of his two friends eyes on him. He pulled a burning piece of wood from the pile and, with an emotionless face, tossed it onto the roof of the house where Cindy rested.

The tree friends stood and watched as the house burned. Squall fell to his knees and slammed his fist into the ground. An hour ago he'd been just another kid playing with his young siblings and now here he was; an orphan with no family at all.

Tears fell from his eyes as he slammed his fist repeatedly into the ground.

0

0

0

Leon's eyes shot open and he sat up, putting a hand to his face and feeling the sweat and the new trail of tears that had fallen.

He turned and placed his legs over the side of the bed, looking out his window and trying to shake away the effects of the dream.

The bed sagged with a new weight and two arms came around his neck as someone settled behind him on their knees.

"How far did the dream go this time?" Yuffie asked as she wiped his tears away with her hand. He wasn't too troubled about her being in his room. She always seemed to find a way in when he had this dream. The dream from that night.

"Only until we burned the house." He replied quietly.

"Oh, so you hadn't found me yet?"

He shook his head.

The two were silent for a few minutes until Yuffie tried to lighten the mood. She moved to sit beside him and opened her arms as if inviting him into a hug. "Come on, come to Yuffie." She grinned, already knowing the answer she'd receive.

Leon rolled his eyes and gave her a shove, causing her to fall to the floor.

"You're so mean, you know that!?" She shouted in mock anger.

He smirked but said nothing as she picked herself off the floor and sat next to him again. "When are you going to let this go Squall?"

"Don't call me that!" He snarled. "It's Leon."

"I don't care what you say." She answered his anger quietly. "I now you as Squall. It's what they called you that night you found me during the invasion. I knew you as Squall Leonheart than and I know you as Squall Leonheart now. Not Leon."

Leon sighed. "Stubborn brat." He muttered.

She smiled and wrapped her arms around him again. "But that's why you love me right?"

He smiled, admitted a small one but a smile nonetheless. He placed his hands over hers and clasped them tightly. "Yeah."

"Why don't you ever let your emotions go when you have this dream Squall?" Yuffie questioned softly. "You've told me all about it but you've never cried or broken down like you so desperately want to."

"How would you know what I want?"

"Because I've learned to read you."

He said nothing and Yuffie rested her head on his shoulder. "Will you at least cry in front of me, Squall? Will you let me be your shoulder to lean on, to cry on?"

"I don't cry in front of people Yuffie."

"You were crying when I came in."

"I was asleep. I can't control what I do when I'm asleep."

"But you were still crying." She persisted. "And you were still crying when I wrapped my arms around you. Why can't you do that now?"

"It's my problem Yuffie. My memory. I'll deal with it."

"But I can help. Just talk about it. Tell me about your sister and your twin siblings. I know you'll cry somewhere along the way but that's a part of opening up." She smirked. "Everyone seems to think it's the men who should comfort the women but I think it's about time we switched places."

Leon said nothing and Yuffie sighed, getting ready to leave; then he spoke. "Her name was Cindy; she was five." Yuffie tightened her hold around him as he told her everything. He told her about his brother and sisters; about how he blamed himself because he wasn't able to save any of them or their mother.

"We didn't have a father; he died three years before the heartless invaded. He got sick and there was no cure for it." Leon snorted at this point. "I don't even know what he had; my mother never told me, said she'd tell me when I was older.

"I was with him when he died. I was twelve and he asked me to take care of mom and the others." The gunblader placed his head in his hands and Yuffie watched him with sympathetic eyes. "I promised him Yufs. I promised I'd take care of the rest of the family, and I failed him. I lost the whole family in one night."

Yuffie saw a tear roll down his face and leaned closer to him for comfort.

"That's the night I changed my name." Leon continued. "I changed it to distance myself from the past and my past self; the person who couldn't save his family or his world." He lifted his head and his eyes traveled to his gunblade which leaned against the far wall. "And when we ended up in Traverse Town I trained hard so I would be the best; so no one could defeat me and I could protect our new home. So I could protect you; you, Aerith, and Cid."

"And you blame yourself for the death of your family?" Yuffie asked softly. Leon nodded.

"Tell me something Squall: would you ever forget Cindy? Or Marlene and Dillan?"

He shook his head, shocked she'd even say such a thing. "No, of course not!"

"But it's like you're trying to. You say you changed your name to distance yourself from your past but you're forgetting that your siblings are part of your past, a big part."

Leon stared at the ground in thought as she continued. "Aerith told me how you used to be like. You used to laugh and smile all the time and you and Cloud would play pranks on Cid for a laugh, but she said you've both changed. She misses you; the way you used to be and I would like to meet the person you used to be. But the first step is to forgive yourself." She turned him around to face her on the bed and climbed into his lap, placing her head against his chest as his arms came around her. "Don't forget, I lost my family in that invasion too. I can't remember mine as well anymore, so be thankful you can."

Leon sighed as he laid his head on top of hers. "You really want me to try don't you?"

She nodded. "Yep Squall, I do."

He sighed again. "Damn it, now I've got to get used to the name all over again."

Yuffie grinned. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to. I mean if there's a chance someone like me can love someone like you then I'm pretty sure there's a good chance you'll get used to your old name."

Squall glared down at her. "Should I take that as an insult or a compliment?"

"Either way's fine with me." She smiled then squealed when Squall rolled over and she ended up under him, back to the bed.

Squall stared down at her in mock seriousness. "I think I'll take it as an insult." He said before bringing his lips to her neck.

"Mmm and is this how you always treat people who insult you?" She felt him smile before he brought his head back up to face her. "No. Only you." Then his lips met hers and Yuffie smiled softly. She wrapped her arms around his neck as the kiss broke. "I love you Squall."

Squall smiled. "I love you too." He replied truthfully before kissing her gently again.

A/N: Defiantly not my best work but i don't think it's too bad, not as good as my other Squiffie but still good. People wanted me to write another Squall/Yuffie story so here it is, long overdue but but finally here. If you haven't seen my other Squall/Yuffie then i suggest you read it, it's not too bad. Well any way review and tell me what you think. TTFN ta ta for now


End file.
